I am an idiot...3D Probe with Probe Basic

So I have my 3D probe setup and working, but I would like to add some error handling to its operation. I have it as tool 99 with its length saved in the Tool Table.

Issue 1, I most of the time I forget to remove the tool from the spindle, not the actual probe itself, but I forget to press: UNLOAD SPINDLE and take it back to "0". This caused quite a commotion the first time I did it. 

I rotated the carousel to the next tool (16 tool ATC on my machine). Once the carousel started rotating it kept going, and going, and going. E stop stopped the rotation, until I took it out of E stop then spinning away it went again, all the while the ATC graphic just kept rotating. Kind of funny now, but I had to shut it down and upon restart, of course the carousel was on tool #2 but the tool that was lined up was something else far away from 2.

So I shut it down again and changed #5170 in the .var file to the right tool. Lesson learned, well should be, but I still forget. I have since learned that at the right time when I forget again I can hit the button to rotate the carousel in the opposite direction and it will stop it. Yet it loses its index. 

Of course the easy thing here would be to just LEARN to unload the spindle by hitting a button, but if someone else was to encounter this they would likely stumble at what to do to rescue it from this error. My machine has no homing switches and you cannot send it back home while this is going on, which makes for a fun time realigning Z with the tool changer.

This is on version 2.8.4, maybe something has been implemented already in a later version?  I have a few ideas of what do here to handle things with tool 99 loaded, but maybe someone else has already encounter this issue?

Since learning might be out of the question here, I am thinking that something as simple as a UI input to change #5170 in .var file without shutting it down would be quick and easy solution. Or just inhibit anything other than XYZ while tool 99 is loaded? With maybe an error message if you are trying to do something other than that as well.

Issue 2, when using the probe I have my Z max height (I think that is what it is called) set to 10.7" or whatever the effective Z really is. If I try to probe at a lower height I just get an error, that it would exceed what is possible. Looks like a math error, I would think the probing routine would subtract the Z max from actual, and if it within available motion it would run.

For instance Z max is set to 10", I am above the part 2" or Z actual is at 8" which leaves me 2" before I run out of Z. But what it does is take the actual current position as Z max, or this seems to be the case. I have looked into the probing subroutines but did not see where to make a change.

Last, how to stop the "probed measurements" messages from coming up on the screen when it performs the actions.

Any help or pointers here is greatly appreciated.

I'm not sure I understand the issue, to the ATC, tool 99 is just another tool,  I'm not sure why the carousel would do anything besides try and store the Tool in a pocket like any other tool.   If the carousel was full you would get an error stating so.   I'm not sure why your are getting that behavior.  Can you be more clear here? 

You typically just punch in the desired tool and it auto stores and retrieve the called tool.  In this case you would have stored a ghost tool 99 in the carousel and retrieve the called tool.  This would be fixed by simply calling tool 99, once changed to the ghost tool 99, then hit unload spindle and your back to where you should be.   The atc turning non stop sounds like a completely different issue to me unrelated to load unload.   

Max z for probing is the max distance the z axis will travel before stopping with an error for no contact.  This shouldn't be set at 10", more like 1".  It's just a safety to avoid a crash if the probe fails to trigger,  typically this is set just slightly above where the probe would start from over the work piece.   

I'm curious why you would have an ATC and no home switches?   The atc depends on constants for the platter alignment.   I can't imagine this scenario being long term successful without correct machine setup, so I would make that a priority.  

 

I don't keep the probe stored in carousel, I don't want coolant inside the connector as it is a wired version. I could have made that more clear, sorry.

It is Fadal, all it has is a reed switch to stop the motor when it aligns any tool. Works fine otherwise.

Lcvette wrote:

I'm not sure I understand the issue, to the ATC, tool 99 is just another tool,  I'm not sure why the carousel would do anything besides try and store the Tool in a pocket like any other tool.   If the carousel was full you would get an error stating so.   I'm not sure why your are getting that behavior.  Can you be more clear here? 

You typically just punch in the desired tool and it auto stores and retrieve the called tool.  In this case you would have stored a ghost tool 99 in the carousel and retrieve the called tool.  This would be fixed by simply calling tool 99, once changed to the ghost tool 99, then hit unload spindle and your back to where you should be.   The atc turning non stop sounds like a completely different issue to me unrelated to load unload.   

Max z for probing is the max distance the z axis will travel before stopping with an error for no contact.  This shouldn't be set at 10", more like 1".  It's just a safety to avoid a crash if the probe fails to trigger,  typically this is set just slightly above where the probe would start from over the work piece.   

I'm curious why you would have an ATC and no home switches?   The atc depends on constants for the platter alignment.   I can't imagine this scenario being long term successful without correct machine setup, so I would make that a priority.  


 

My home position for probing is tool change height, which is over 10" above the part. If I set the Z maximum to 1" when I am 10" above the part it will move a maximum of 1" and stop. I am not sure why this is hard to understand, did I not explain it clearly to begin with? If I probe the part from tool change height, then change the Z max to 1" it will  re-probe the part from that height. I can clearly see the issue, just don't know where to go to fix it.

I don't either, I'm saying that would be the only thing that occurred if you forgot to hit the unload button. The macro is simply checking if there is a tool in the spindle and if so it will store it before moving on.

Where is the code that runs for the Z maximum is it a "Probe Z Minus" in the subroutines, is it a G code operation that gets loaded when you run the CALIBRATE probing routine?

How to disable the on screen messages once a probed move has been made? I get tired of clearing 6 messages after a probing operation, since those measurements are being added to the UI, seems a bit redundant and a nuisance.

The max z is in all of z probe routines. You must use probing very differently than I do as I've never encountered that issue. Most of the routines require hints and you need to be fairly close on the starting position, something starting from tool change height makes quite difficult. That said, if you need to remove or adjust the calculations you can use an editor such as vscode, atom, sublime text etc.. and add the subroutine folder then do a search in the folder for max z to find all its locations. Or maybe add a if else statement if max z EQ 0 it skips the max z addition to the code.

The latest version removes the pop ups. 2.8.4 is no longer supported, so you would need to grab the updated macros from the latest git branch. Or update to Debian 12 and the latest probe basic.

So you are jogging down close to the workpiece then running the probe routine?

Correct, If you're just starting with probe routines in probe basic, it will become clear once you use them a bit why being near the work is important.